Beware the Crawling Eye! A Fun Halloween DIY Using an Exercise Ball and Old Sheets.

It’s my favorite holiday, so I tend to go a little nuts. This year I added some new fun with an eye theme in the front yard, with the Crawling Eye as the centerpiece (based on the admittedly awful 1950’s sci-fi movie by the same name.) Here’s the DIY:

It all started with an exercise ball. Then I added a plastic eye we found at the thrift store for .49 cents, florescent spray paint, Great Stuff gap filler, foam from our old bed, and a couple old sheets. I used a glue gun to wrap the ball in fabric first. It’s ok to wrap it kind of messy, you actually want the folds and bumps in the fabric for added texture.

Next came the legs, which were cut out of old sheets. It doesn’t matter too much what they look like, as they will be mostly painted. I used the glue gun again to attached the two sides to each other, though sewing them would have been better. I turned them out and stuffed them with some old foam, though you could use newspaper, foam peanuts, or whatever flexible, light-weight material you have lying around. The hardest part is attaching the stuffed legs to the ball. I used a glue gun, though it would have held better if I started by attaching the legs with a few stitches first. (I was short on time and rushed this project). The eye was also attached with the hot glue. It can all be somewhat messily done, as you’ll be covering up all the edges in the next step.

The final steps were done outside on a tarp. What really makes this project look awesome is the “Great Stuff” gap filler. I used it to cover all the edges and create creepy texture over the whole thing.

When the foam was dry, I used orange and green florescent spray paint to finish him off. He now sits happily on the front porch under a black light to frighten our visitors. The entire project took just over 2 hours.

I’ll post more pictures of our eye-themed front yard soon, as well as all the inside decorations. Happy Halloween everyone! I’d love to see your Halloween projects in the comments section!